I’m Fired!

Column

There’s an episode of Seinfeld in which Kramer goes into a Manhattan office to use the bathroom and gets pulled into an executive meeting, likes it and sticks around with his three piece suit and briefcase. He does the 9 to 5 every day and even generates a report from his “work”. When his “boss” reads it he calls Kramer into his office. He explains to Kramer that the report is gibberish and really bears no resemblance to anything related to business. He tells Kramer he has to let him go. Kramer says “But I don’t really even work here”. The boss says “I know. That’s what makes this so difficult”.

Well, if the stories I’ve heard are true this week, I’ve been fired from announcing the Mum Festival Parade; and I didn’t even work there! At least I never SAW a paycheck.

I learned today that a person, or persons, took umbrage with something I said at this year’s parade. As the Democratic Party float passed the review stand, I suggested that Barack Obama might be in the car pulling the float since he was likely embarrassed after losing the debate the previous evening to John McCain. That person, or persons, fired off an email to the City Council wanting that body to do something about what I said. I also heard that a former big-wig with the Mum Festival Committee would be addressing the next Mum meeting about my comments. And then I was told that a member of the Committee responded to the slightly off-kilter complainant by stating that I certainly wouldn’t be returning to that microphone next year. All this information is second hand, so my comments will be addressed to the parties involved IF it actually happened the way I was told.

First of all, lighten up! You might be surprised what cracking a smile would mean to your health. If you think those comments were that bad, you have a real perception problem. I understand Ohio, and the Miami Valley is important in this presidential election but being prudish isn’t helping and I can only imagine how you’ll behave when your candidate loses in November………and he will lose. You’ll be fit to be tied.

The Council has nothing to do with the Mum Festival or what I say. Why would you waste their time whining about your personal problems? Maybe you should go burn some objectionable books outside the library, or stop by the school board to make sure the texts meet your standards. Hey, I have an idea; perhaps you could join with like-minded concerned citizens to screen all comments made in Tipp City or Monroe Township to see if they pass the politically correct test for free speech before we’re allowed to print or speak them.

And if, in fact, that committee member did succumb to the un-American grumblings of this/these censorship hooligans, then that member lacks any modicum of integrity…..and didn’t even have the intestinal fortitude to contact me first. They preferred sucking up to the griper. But I suppose taking the easier way out is less stressful.

If the committee wants a robot to sit and read a script in what amounts to a computer-generated, simulated voice, that’s fine. My wife told me I sounded like I was certainly entertaining myself with my witticisms anyway. And I was. I thought I was quite clever. But I don’t need to be on stage to do that. I can just as easily play to a small room.

I was asked for the past two years to announce the Mum Festival Parade. I actually prefer watching with my family and friends but I believe we must support our community when asked. By the way, aside from the individual who asked me to help out, there’s been no “Thank you” stream flowing in my direction from the committee, just this kind of garbage.

You see, unlike a handful of you busy-bodies in the area, I believe in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I will continue to speak my mind in public forums, in private gatherings and in this fine publication until the editor tells me to shut up. I wonder if this is a common attitude with those in “that” political camp. And if you really don’t like what I say, I’ll bet they’d be happy to put you (and you know who you are) up in the Hotel Havana. I’m sure you’ll enjoy Castro’s restraints put on parade commentators there………its’ right up your alley.

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Mike Scinto is a Radio Talk Show Host and hosts the longest running show in Southwestern Ohio. You can catch him weekdays from 12:00 noon until 2:00 PM on 1210-AM. Mike is a regular guest host on the national Mike Gallagher Show and is a contributor to cable’s Fox News Channel. You can visit http://myspace.com/mikescintoshow or email mike@themikescintoshow.com. You can also reach Mike by calling 937-506-4288 and visit his blog at http://mikescinto.blogspot.com .

Pigs in the Park

http://tippvoice.com

Column

It’s really sad when you have to tell people that they’re slobs and they’re affecting not only their little world but those around them as well. Well they’re in our midst as we speak.

I’ve found Kyle Park to be quite a respite from the hectic, everyday world. I go there in the morning with our dog, I coach soccer there, our family walks the trail around the perimeter and I’ve even written columns in the past about how clean and well maintained the park is right down to the rest rooms. It’s been a pleasure to use this gift from the Kyle family. But as it grows, so do the inconsiderate, grotesque violations of the park.

Before I get started with my rant, let me say I still believe it is one of the best maintained, groomed and patrolled parks I’ve seen in any city, large or small.

I’ve noticed, especially over the past year or so, more trash, acts of vandalism and general lack of concern for the facility by patrons. As I said, I am there at all hours of the day and evening almost every day. And while the problem isn’t pervasive, it is annoying.

I constantly see the picnic tables at the Timmer Pavilion pulled together and dangling off the concrete from skateboarders who used the tables for their acrobatics. I have nothing against skateboarders, we have one of our own, but I do recognize the liability of doing it in a totally unsupervised area seemingly inviting a broken skull to happen. And I wonder if they would leave their own backyard in the same disarray?

The bathrooms that I once wrote were clean enough to eat off the floor (not literally, of course) are sometimes as trashed as the facilities at a baseball stadium or concert arena.

I recently saw where a car had been parked by the new baseball diamonds and the occupants had obviously emptied all their ash trays and trash bags out both side doors. Several months ago as I went for a stroll, I had to step over a used condom in the parking lot. Where possible, and time permitting, I try to pick up what I can, although I must admit, I couldn’t bring my ungloved self to pick up the prophylactic.

And most of us have been there after one of the porta-potties has been tipped over; quite a pleasant aroma to complement the honeysuckle on a spring or summer morning.

I served on the old Parks Advisory Committee some years ago, and if memory serves me correctly, the policy at the park back then was that it was closed from 11:00 PM until 7:00 AM every night. Unless there were problems though, it wasn’t really enforced. By the time we get the kids to bed, chores wrapped up for the day and are winding down it is usually after 11:00 PM. I will head for the park to take a quick walk/jog around the park. Or I will use that time of quiet to prepare for a radio show or write my column on this laptop.

Several nights ago I arrived a little after 11:00 and as I headed around the baseball loop, I saw the flashing red lights of a police cruiser. I wondered if I was being taped for an episode of “Cops”. Apparently he had been parked with his lights off watching for people coming into the park. He explained I couldn’t be there after 11:00. I felt like a criminal in my beloved Kyle Park. I know the officer was just doing what he needed to do, and he was very polite, but when he said I’d have to leave the park because it was closed I felt like Tipp City had “come of age”.

The serenity, beauty and uniqueness had somehow been stolen because of a few punks and slobs who should be living in a sewer instead of a community of civilized people. To those reading this; if the shoe fits, wear it.

Again, I have no complaints with the parks folks. They work very hard to maintain a gorgeous park for all. And for the most part, it remains that way. But they can’t be there 24/7. Pick up after yourself, and help keep our public, family areas something of which we can be proud. If not we’ll look like every other two-bit community.

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Mike Scinto is a Radio Talk Show Host and hosts the longest running show in Southwestern Ohio. You can catch him weekdays from 12:00 noon until 2:00 PM on 1210-AM. Mike is a regular guest host on the national Mike Gallagher Show and is a contributor to cable’s Fox News Channel. You can visit http://myspace.com/mikescintoshow or email mike@themikescintoshow.com. You can also reach Mike by calling 937-506-4288 and visit his blog at http://mikescinto.blogspot.com .

A View From Inside Hurricane Ike

by

Mike Scinto

To say this past week was interesting would be a huge understatement. Our family had to deal with hospitalization and surgery for our daughter, while adjusting to our three-plus days without power. And the power issue is where we’ll journey this week.

Numerous thoughts come to mind about the power situation. First of all, it gives new meaning to the old saying “if you don’t like the weather in Ohio, just wait fifteen minutes and it will change.” I lived that on a soccer field in Piqua coaching our team watching things deteriorate from a little wind into swirling dark clouds and finally Hurricane Ike.

In reality, a category one hurricane must have sustained winds of 75 MPH or greater. We hit gusts of 78 MPH and very high sustained winds, but for most area residents, it WAS a hurricane! Just ask people who lived without power, removed centuries old trees from their driveways or picked up branches for two days.

Okay, so local power companies have never (as far as my meteorologist buddies can tell) had to deal with anything like this. My family has lived in Ohio since 1964, and aside from the few hours Kathy and I were without power while living out in the middle of nowhere (in Clark County) during the blizzard of 1978, we’ve never seen been without power. It is quite a humbling experience.

I’m a “fixer”. I can pull strings, threaten, beg, negotiate or cajole my family’s way out of just about anything. I was unable to do any of the above to get our power back on; and it wasn’t for a lack of trying. I really believe relief efforts showed no favoritism. It was “hurry up and wait” whether you were a bank president or the neighborhood mechanic. I felt neutered.

I’ve never been quite as thrilled as I was when Zak called me and said he was standing in front of the refrigerator at home, with the door open, and it was blowing cold air in his face. We had POWER!

Alright, the fun stuff is over. Now let’s get to the critiques and praise.

There is no way Tipp City Schools should have been in session at all on Monday. Even if the city proper had lights and power, many families in the district didn’t. Many streets with fallen branches, inactive street lights and downed power lines were downright dangerous…..and trees continued to topple over onto roadways. l know at the time classes got their late start power was still out for nearly everybody from Evanston Road to the south, including all of the Deercliff Run subdivision. And, as I said there were still pockets in town, and traffic lights out. Just getting moving in the dark house, with no water, can be a challenge for a family and takes quite a bit of adjustment. A day off would have helped at least.

Local power companies and cooperatives dropped the ball. We pay plenty for our power and there’s no excuse for the amount of time it took to get us back up and running. It was a disgrace. Tipp City Electric was, as I saw it, one of the only bright spots in getting folks back up. I just wish they could have wandered out into the township and helped us out here. My criticism isn’t for the workers who put in long hours and worked very hard, it’s with poor management decisions and not keeping the public informed at all. You were almost afraid to call the utility because you might be bothering them. I had an unbelievably rude response after waiting on hold for 45 minutes. I had a number of others share similar experiences with me. In my call when I said I was just trying to get some ballpark idea on when power in our area MIGHT be up because our daughter was coming home with a pump to feed her, I was told he’s heard “sob stories like that” from the last ten calls he’d received. Before slamming the phone down in his ear I explained how lucky he was that he hadn’t given me his full name or he’d be getting what we referred to “back in the day” as a butt-whoopin’ from me. I had a neighbor who called in to report lines down in an area where there are children playing, only to be told there were hundreds of those calls coming in. I don’t care if these customer “no-service” reps were dealing with irate callers, when I’m sitting in the dark, two days into the event; I deserve some tidbit of information, even if it’s just some slight sound of compassion in their intonation. At least I can come away THINKING somebody cares.

This is a shining example of why we need competition in the field of providing electric service. Companies can provide the power to DP&L to distribute, but DP&L owns the transmission lines over which it’s carried. I can’t start Mike’s Power and Light Company, put up some poles, hire a couple of local school board members to ride a stationary bike hooked to a generator, string wire, buy a couple of trucks and sell you electricity promising superior service. The local power monopolies have that exclusivity. And that’s a huge part of the problem; no consumer choice. Now that I think about it, I’m not too sure those board members could be talked into pedaling that stationary bike if I couldn’t guarantee them a few votes in exchange.....and some of them might need instructions on how to pedal. (No offense intended to ALL the board members….I have one PARTICULAR member in mind)

Several good things came from this experience. In the years of living on our road, I’ve never really ventured down to the “other end” to talk to those folks. I felt like I was in an old black and white Twilight Zone episode as I met some of them as we all chased after power trucks like country dogs running after a passing car. There are actually some nice people living “down there”.

We renewed friendships with closer neighbors, really great neighbors, from whom we’ve been strangers because of today’s hectic schedules and “busy time”. We also found out they’re the ones who’ve been stealing our apples!

We found out we have survival skills we never realized we had. It was Zak who decided to bring in some of those solar lamps from the front walk to give shed a little light in the total darkness of the house.

But I think the thing I realized most of all was just how puny our discomforts were compared to people in the Katrina and Ike paths in Louisiana and Galveston, Texas. They have no homes left, or bail water and sludge for weeks just to get back into their homes. It puts what we went through in real perspective. Sitting in the dark can also give you some introspection time and a time to renew that other friendship that may have been put on a back burner because of our busyness……our friendship with God. In my Faith, it really was talking with Jesus that kept me sane and opened my eyes to what’s important.

Let’s hope when we look back on this we come away with more good memories than bad.

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Mike Scinto is a Radio Talk Show Host and hosts the longest running talk show in Southwestern Ohio. You can catch him weekdays from 12:00 noon until 2:00 PM on 1210-AM. Mike is a regular guest host on the national Mike Gallagher Show and is a contributor to cable’s Fox News Channel. You can visit http://myspace.com/mikescintoshow or email mike@themikescintoshow.com. You can also reach Mike by calling 937-506-4288 and visit his blog at http://mikescinto.blogspot.com .